(20 buckz)
Jonathan is angry that Verizon requires a $10-a-month data package for his wife’s lower-end flip phone, which she has no intention of using to web surf.
He writes:
My wife just renewed with Verizon on a 2 year plan for a small Samsung Alias 2 flip phone. I previously have owned this phone before upgrading myself to a true smartphone and enjoyed it. The problem is, they are making a mandatory data package with the phone, as if it were a smart phone. If anyone has used this device there is no reason it should be considered a smart phone that requires data. So for an extra $10/month she is required to have data on a basic phone. Is it not crazy that a small flip phone is required $10/m for data?
If you’re on Verizon, like your phone and don’t have to pay a data charge, sell John on your recommendation in the comments.
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…this story is old news…little late now to be enraged…
I’m hanging on to an old Verizon smart phone so that I don’t have to pay $29/month for a “free” upgrade.
I just checked my online bill and you can actually remove the data plan. I have the same plan and If you look online you can remove it. It may just be easier to eat $10 for the month and remove it online.
The really, really, really bad part of this comes when you have kids on a family plan. And thats the reason they won’t let you block data.
Adding a phone on the Verizon family plan used to cost $10 per line. Kids can really cripple you on overages, so you have to pay for unlimited texting and block all premium services like premium texts and data, and you have to keep an eye on minutes.
Now Verizon is forcing you to add data at $10 per line for any texting phone, doubling the per line cost for an extremely limited 250MB data plan, and, worst of all, exposing parents to the very high risk of thousands of dollars of overages when your 13-year old discovers youtube.
The only way to avoid the overage risk is to get the “unlimited” data plan for $30 per line.
I should also point out that I have looked on verizonwireless.com for details of their data plans, including overage fees, and I cannot find anything. Can anybody provide a link to their terms?
So now I have 4 choices:
1) take away the kids texting phones and give them crappy candy bar phones,
2) increase the monthly bill for their phones from $30 to $60 and risk $10000 overages while keeping a paranoid eye on data usage for the next few years,
3) increase the monthly bill for their phones from $30 to $120 for unlimited data, and wait for the next plan Verizon comes up with to shaft me.
4) find another carrier.
right now its looking like 4.
facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=257808747739&ref=mf
contact Verizon Wireless CEO – the man responsible:
http://aboutus.vzw.com/leadership/executive/profiles/Lowell_McAdam.html
Or, if you feel comfortable with used phones, you can check ebay for something on this list http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1637524-No-Data-Required-Phone-List
These can be activated without a data plan.
I canceled my data package. I bought an LG Chocolate Touch this past week, and it came with a $10.00 data pack, VPAK, VCast. I called *688 and asked the robot for VPak, got a human on the line, and asked him to cancel my data package. He made some noise about it being the weekend and that as a special favor he would cancel it for me even though they are not supposed to. He asked me not to tell my friends. Well, ya’ll are not friends of mine as of yet.
ATT just started this as well. It used to be a mandatory $15 data package on smartphones. Now they very recently just started a mandatory $20/month media fee for “quick messaging” phones as well. So if your phone can send a quick message, ATT needs an extra $480 tacked on to your plan.
I personally mainly use my LG Vu for talking and taking the occasional picture. The newer phones have better cameras, screens you can actually see outside, etc. Plenty of features that don’t involve getting online.(theres always free WiFi for that anyway).
I have 3 months left on my 3rd phone then I’m leaving ATT and getting a prepaid plan. I’m not buying into these forced media/data plans or renewing a 2 year contract for a $3 downgraded phone you could get free in a crackerjack box.
I’m kinda worried about this as well.. My last two phones were both touch screen and were “neat” to have, but after awhile I was more in for the phone functionality than cool features.. Although I think these droid phones are very cool…Verizon’s data plans are way over priced. My next phone will return to something more simpler like a flip phone as I have had so many problems with my touch screen phone batteries. I think out of all the phones I have had with verizon, my LG 8300 was the best phone I have ever bought from them. For them to say, I need a data plan for a non-smart phone …they can go f’ themselves.
I too resent having to pay for a data package. All I want to do is sync my contacts, phone#’s & notes. I don’t email or text. I have a Motorola Q that no longer will sync w/my computer. It needs a software flash which no Verizon store in a 25 mile radius of my home can do. So for $75.00 I can send it to Motorola for a software upgrade and have it gone for a week. I feel like I’m being ripped off. The government should look into this.